Dogsitting "The Major"

Cutest "boy" on the block!

Home Again, Home Again...

These are the beautiful flowers my lovely daughter left for us (Thanks Meggie Loo Hoo!) along with a few other wonderful suprises when we got home. Next to the vase is a beautiful alabaster lamp I splurged on. I got it from an area of Italy they mine the stone. It includes all 4 grades of alabaster. Rick has to rewire it so I can actually plug it in since they use different outlets over there, but he's talented enough to figure it out. It'll be beautiful! Kitties were well taken care of but very happy to see us. Both Lilly and Izzy still follow me around the house and meow like crazy if we get out of their sight. They were lonely! Poor baby kitties. They are so Spoiled Rotten and it's all my fault. Oh well...it's not like they're kids or anything so I guess it doesn't matter too much. I'll post more italy pics at a later date. We have so many I need to go through them and upload them and that will take quite a bit of time and effort. So we'll catch ya all later. Ciao and Arrivederci!

Florence...to be continued

Ooo-La-La! :)

End of a beautiful day in Italy

Eating Octopus and Squid- Fresh from the Sea!

Boat ride on the Mediteranean Sea
The ferry boat between villages

Italian Marina

Streets of Tuscany-Notice the laundry!

Rick and I swam in this bay! Cliff divers and everything!

AMAZING!!

More Italy Pictures to Enjoy...

View from the Cinque Terra Trail

Another beautiful vista from the trail

Part of the Cinque Terra Trail

One of 5 small coastal villages along the trail.

From Italy with Love...

Nice (or NOT) lady at a random deli along the road. PARMESANO!!
Our bedroom door leading to the terrace.

Beautiful garden statue in Lucca

Beautiful garden within the old Lucca walled town

Biking the Lucca wall

Note found on the toilet made us laugh!

Mmmmmm....Yummy Bruschetta and wine!How I love Italy!

Beautiful Tuscan Landscape

Friends having fun in Tuscany Italy!

Tuscany Italy

At the Villa

Fresh Herbs growing everywhere!

View overlooking the villa

Infinity Pool time...ahhhh...sigh.

5 Days to Italy!!

Only 5 days until we leave for Tuscany, Italy! Our neighbor friends invited us along with another couple to stay in this villa near Lucca, Italy. They have so generously provided the villa, a rented van for touring, a chef to cook our welcome & fairwell dinner, and give us a cooking class! We met with everyone a couple times to plan and we're getting sooo excited! I even packed my luggage today! I have such a busy week ahead of me i didn't want to forget anything if i packed last minute! I even have room left in my suitcase for souvineers! Wonder how much wine and cheese will fit in there? Ha! I'll be posting a few pics throughout the week so stay tuned! In the meantime, for those of you who might be curious, here is the link for the villa website with complete info about the villa, with more pictures and the location...

www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p415044

http://www.georgesodini.com/20090804.htm

This guy was one SICKO! I pray that his victims will be blessed and given a place in heaven and that his soul will rot in H*LL!! He doesn't think he will pay a penance for killing innocent people! I pray he is wrong!

Autumn Leaves....

This picture is in honor of my Sister-in-law, Jackie who loves the cool fall weather.

We have a beautiful Maple tree next to our backyard patio that is already losing it's leaves!!

Yep-that's right folks...summer is over (even though it never started) and fall is here.

It's a love/hate relationship with me in the fall. I love it so much but hate knowing that winter is just around the corner. Our summer has been chilly and cool but we've had many beautiful days with sun and low humidity. I'm not gonna complain about it. It was nice. Maybe could have been a little warmer. Rick and I will leave for Italy in less than 2 weeks and from what I'm hearing it is hot there right now. So I'll get my taste of summer overseas. Tuscany-here I come!